Friday we were all shopping for groceries when my cell phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but since we’re constantly trying to make appointments with potential supporters that isn’t uncommon. I decided to take the call. It was Talitha from Invisible Children. As one of their TRI program supporters we get periodic updates regarding their organization’s efforts to end the violence perpetrated by the Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa. She was calling to tell me that President Obama had authorized the deployment of 100 troops to the region to serve as military advisers to the governments fighting the LRA. She was also told me that as this news was breaking across America, several misconceptions were being raised regarding just who these rebels are.

Much of the misinformation seems to be due comments talk radio host Rush Limbaugh made on his show in which he claims that the LRA is simply a group of Christians fighting against forces of oppression. He claimed that Obama is sending “a hundred troops to wipe out Christians.” You can read the whole transcript yourself on Mr. Limbaugh’s website. In the segment he admitted that he hadn’t previously heard of the LRA, yet he is quick to defend the group.

Mr. Limbaugh’s description of the organization is in stark contrast to that of my friend and MAF pilot Jon Cadd. In a post on his blog, Jon talks about some victims that he flew to the hospital in Dungu, DRC.

There were 4 women who had been victims of LRA attacks. As is common with these terrorists, they had cut the lips off of the women in the process of their torture, which probably included rape – the kind of torture you can’t visually see.

Now you can believe Mr. Limbaugh who just heard of the LRA, or you can believe Jon who has flown their victims. I’ll let you decide. This is just one example of the atrocities wrought by the LRA. The newly operational LRA Crisis Tracker provides many more, and some include video and photos. This group is hardly a band of Christian freedom fighters; they are inhumane murderers, kidnappers, rapists, child abusers, mutilators, thieves, and liars. They are people who desperately need the truth of Christ…instead they just use his name in vain and act in ways that dishonor him and their fellow humans. It breaks my heart every time I hear about the terrible things they do!

It also breaks my heart to hear with someone with such prominence and following as Rush Limbaugh spread a message of such ignorance. His reckless defense of the LRA as political smear tactic is dishonorable to the victims of the group’s attacks. I’m sure many American’s heard of the LRA for the first time on his show last week. My fear is that they now have a totally warped concept of just who this group is. Don’t be misled. Listen to Evelyn, a victim, respond in this video:

Father God, please protect the people of D.R. Congo and the surrounding areas from LRA violence. Heal those who have been hurt. Open the eyes of the members of the LRA to see who you truly are, and that what they are doing is truly evil. Continue to use Invisible Children, MAF, and other organizations to help the victims of these atrocities. Use our family and our position with MAF to be part of this process. You are in control of all things. In Christ’s name, amen.